Removing nerves connecting kidney to the brain shown to reduce high blood pressure

July 1, 2013 ? A new technique that involves removing the nerves connecting the kidney to the brain has shown to significantly reduce blood pressure and help lower the risk of stroke, heart and renal disease in patients. The procedure, which has very few side effects, has already shown promising results in hard-to-treat cases of high blood pressure.

The technique, published in the journal Hypertension, was performed by a team led by Professor Julian Paton at the University of Bristol who found that in an animal model of hypertension removing nerves connecting the kidney to the brain reduced blood pressure and improved its long-term stability.

Inspired by these results, cardiologists Dr Angus Nightingale and Dr Andreas Baumbach from the Bristol Heart Institute (BHI) adopted the technique called "renal denervation" to remove the nerves to the kidney in patients with high blood pressure.

The procedure, which has been successfully trialled on 19 patients at the BHI, is performed using a fine tube that is inserted in an artery in the patient's leg and positioned in the artery feeding blood to the patient's kidneys. The nerves to the kidney are around the artery and ablated by radio-frequency energy that is emitted from the tube.

The breakthrough is due to a new collaboration involving scientists at the University of Bristol and cardiologists at the BHI, who have joined forces to form the CardioNomics high blood pressure team. Together, they hope to tackle this major health problem by taking findings from the laboratory and translating them into clinical practice. The CardioNomics team have just been awarded ?100,000 grant from Medtronic to further improve the technique and expand patient trials.

Dr Nightingale, who runs the Specialist Hypertension Clinic at the BHI, said: "We have used renal denervation in patients who have hard-to-treat blood pressure. Similar to the results from the basic science experiments, we have also seen reductions in blood pressure which has been essential for reducing the risk of heart and renal disease, and stroke in our patients. This is an exciting new treatment for these patients who have struggled with high blood pressure which tablets are not controlling."

Dr Baumbach, an interventional cardiologist who performed the treatment, added: "The technique is very straight forward, performed as a day case and there are no side-effects. It is becoming a popular technique for patients with both resistance and poor tolerability to high blood pressure medication."

Professor Julian Paton, who led the research at the University's School of Physiology and Pharmacology, said: "The problem with high blood pressure is that patients develop resistance to their tablets or unpleasant side effects. Our new interventional approaches are based on studies where we have found causative mechanisms generating high blood pressure so we think that they will be most efficacious in patients. And, with luck, they will also mean less pill taking too."

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/6Xw4ebqM_ww/130701163849.htm

The Fosters game of thrones michael douglas Tnt Nba.com Tim Samaras speech jammer

Judge tosses 3 NY lawsuits against ex-Elmo actor

FILE - This Aug 16, 2006 file photo shows Kevin Clash, who was the voice and movements behind Sesame Street's Elmo, posing for a picture with Elmo in New York. Three lawsuits brought by men who said Clash sexually abused them when they were underage were tossed out by a federal judge who said in a decision published Monday, July 1, 2013, that the men waited too long to sue. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)

FILE - This Aug 16, 2006 file photo shows Kevin Clash, who was the voice and movements behind Sesame Street's Elmo, posing for a picture with Elmo in New York. Three lawsuits brought by men who said Clash sexually abused them when they were underage were tossed out by a federal judge who said in a decision published Monday, July 1, 2013, that the men waited too long to sue. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)

NEW YORK (AP) ? Three lawsuits brought by men who said a former Elmo puppeteer sexually abused them when they were underage were tossed out by a judge who said in a decision published Monday that the men waited too long to sue.

U.S. District Judge John G. Koeltl said the claims must be barred because they came more than six years after each man reasonably should have become aware of Kevin Clash's alleged violations and more than three years after each turned 18. One other lawsuit is pending in Pennsylvania.

Clash resigned from "Sesame Street" in November after college student Cecil Singleton sued him for more than $5 million, accusing Clash of having sex with him when he was 15.

At the time, Clash said he was leaving his job because "personal matters have diverted attention away from the important work 'Sesame Street' is doing."

Clash was the man behind Elmo, the popular furry red monster, for 28 years.

Singleton's lawsuit was among those thrown out Monday. Koeltl also rejected lawsuits brought by Kevin Kiadii, who claimed that Clash initiated contact with him on a gay chat line in 2004 when he was 16, and a third person, a Florida resident, who remained anonymous in his lawsuit as he claimed that Clash befriended him in late 1995 or early 1996 when he was 16 or 17.

Sex with a person under age 17 is a felony in New York if the perpetrator is 21 or older.

Koeltl said Singleton's claim expired in 2009, Kiadii's claim became time-barred at some point between 2008 and 2010 and the case brought anonymously would have expired between 2000 and 2002.

Adam D. Horowitz, an attorney for the men who brought the lawsuits, noted that the case was dismissed only on statute of limitations grounds.

"It should not be viewed as a vindication for Kevin Clash or a determination that he is innocent," Horowirz said. He added that lawyers were "still hearing from more of his alleged victims."

Jeff Herman, another lawyer for the plaintiffs, said he would appeal. He called the statute of limitations "an arbitrary timeline that silences victims."

A lawyer for Clash did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In the ruling, the judge said that the time in which someone must bring a lawsuit accumulates after the victimization rather than when the individual realizes subsequent psychological harm.

Otherwise, he said, plaintiffs could make claims decades later.

"While the plaintiffs may not have recognized the extent of their injuries, they were aware of the defendant's conduct toward them and could have brought claims," Koeltl wrote.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2013-07-01-TV-Elmo%20Actor-Accused/id-478de80318314c9abf9c6d49cac7841b

Happy Easter Game Of Thrones Season 3 campfire Kordell Stewart cesar chavez Wichita State hbo

Snowden Running Out Of Options For Asylum

Whistleblower Edward Snowden is quickly running out of options to evade U.S. capture, as nearly a dozen countries have rejected his request for Asylum. Snowden, who is holed up in Moscow’s airport in an attempt to escape extradition to America, got bad news yesterday when Russian President Vladimir Putin declared that he could stay in the country only if he stopped leaking state secrets. “It’s true, Snowden did express a request to remain in Russia. But having found out yesterday about Russia’s position, voiced by President Putin, about the conditions for theoretically doing so, he rejected his intention and request to stay in Russia,” Russian news station, RIA Novosti, quoted Putin Spokesman, Peskov Dmitry, as saying. Snowden was on his way to Ecuador, but President Rafael Correa told the world that he’s Russia’s problem. “This is the decision of Russian authorities. He doesn’t have a passport,” Correa told The Associated Press. “At this moment he’s under the care of the Russian authorities.” Though Wikileaks, Snowden reportedly released a statement promising to leak more documents, “In the end the Obama administration is not afraid of whistleblowers like me, Bradley Manning or Thomas Drake. We are stateless, imprisoned, or powerless. No, the Obama administration is afraid of you. It is afraid of an informed, angry public demanding the constitutional government it was promised ? and it should be.” Snowden is sounding like a man ready to face severe punishment for his convictions…which may come sooner than we expected.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/IUb4It4FgbQ/

lisa marie presley florida panthers tannehill joel ward mock draft north country brian mcknight

Bahrain economic growth accelerates strongly in first quarter

By Martin Dokoupil

DUBAI (Reuters) - Bahrain's economic growth accelerated strongly in the first quarter of 2013, helped by a revival of oil output, official data showed on Sunday.

Gross domestic product, adjusted for inflation, expanded 2.5 percent quarter-on-quarter in January-March, compared to a downwardly revised 0.2 percent in the fourth quarter of 2012.

On an annual basis, growth quickened to 4.2 percent in the first three months of 2013, the highest rate in a year, from a downwardly revised 2.5 percent in the previous quarter, the data from the Central Informatics Organization showed.

The country of 1.3 million people has based its economic strategy on becoming a regional financial hub as it lacks much of the petrodollar wealth of its Arab neighbors. But political unrest starting in 2011, in which the government has faced mainly Shi'ite-led pro-democracy protests, has hit the economy hard and raised pressure on the government to boost spending.

Output in the hydrocarbons sector, which accounts for a quarter of Bahrain's $30 billion economy, grew 1.3 percent in January-March from the previous quarter, against a mere 0.4 percent rise in the final three months of 2012.

Hydrocarbon output jumped 8.0 percent on an annual basis in the first quarter after falling by the same amount in October-December. Last year, Bahrain reported a drop in crude oil output from its key Abu Safa field, which it shares with Saudi Arabia and which contributes nearly 67 percent of budget revenue.

Growth in Bahrain's financial industry, which accounts for roughly 16 percent of GDP, slowed to 0.3 percent quarter-on-quarter in January-March from 1.4 percent in the previous three months.

In the hospitality sector, which nosedived during the 2011 turmoil, output edged up by 0.5 percent in January-March, after a 0.1 percent rise in the fourth quarter.

Analysts polled by Reuters in April forecast that Bahrain's GDP growth would ease slightly to 3.3 percent in 2013 from 3.4 percent in 2012.

(Editing by Andrew Torchia)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/bahrain-economic-growth-accelerates-strongly-first-quarter-115201708.html

josh hutcherson google april fools office space shell houston open mega millions winners anthony davis toure

Sub expedition finds invasive lionfish in deep water off Florida coast

Scientists study the extent the infestation of non-native Lionfish. The submersible, operated by a private company, will take scientists on several dives to gauge the impact of these venomous fish from the Indian and Pacific Oceans.

Aboard the submersible Antipodes, cruising 250 feet beneath the surface off Fort Lauderdale, scientists peered through violet water and saw exactly what they hoped not to see.

About 15 lionfish ? venomous, flamboyantly striped invaders from half a world away ? swam around the starboard bow of a freighter sunk as an artificial reef. When the submersible drifted toward the wreck's stern, they counted another 11.

The dive Friday morning was one of a series this week to gauge the extent of the infestation of the non-native fish on the region's reefs, using a vessel donated by OceanGate Inc., which operates submersibles for oil and gas exploration, scientific research, marine engineering and other uses.

Although lionfish are a well-known threat to the region's reefs, where they consume and compete with native wildlife, most of our knowledge of them comes from observations in shallow water, accessible to divers. The highly publicized lionfish derbies, in which divers spear and catch them for prizes, can't reach lionfish this deep, which suggests that controlling them will be much more difficult.

"The big question has always been what are these things doing at depth?" said David Kerstetter, research scientist at Nova Southeastern University's Oceanographic Center, who was on Friday morning's dive. "Earlier dives this week actually saw that. At the shallower depths they really didn't see any lionfish. But what we're seeing is that at depths beyond that accessible by recreational divers, you're finding pretty large concentrations of lionfish."

Native to the Indian and Pacific oceans, lionfish were first reported in Florida in 1985, detected off the coast of Dania Beach. They have since been found throughout the Gulf and up the Atlantic coast. Typically growing about a foot long, they have venomous, needle-like spines for defense, which can cause painful stings that are on rare occasions fatal.

The Antipodes made dives Tuesday through Friday, moving from a depth of about 100 feet to around 265 feet, finding few lionfish at shallow depths and many at greater depths.

"We knew that they were occasionally found deep," Kerstetter said. "Now we're seeing a lot more evidence that they're actually common at depth. They're always going to have this refuge, where they can eat and spawn and do all these other things that lionfish do."

Keith Mille, environmental specialist with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, who went on the dive Friday, said the abundance of lionfish in deep water indicated that current control efforts can't reach a significant population of them.

"I feel that we were looking at a lionfish population that is not influenced by dive removal efforts," he said.

So do we have any options for dealing with lionfish in 250 feet of water or deeper?

"Really, no," Kerstetter said.

dfleshler@tribune.com, 954-ssss6-4535

Source: http://www.underwatertimes.com/link.php?url=http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/palm-beach/fl-lionfish-expedition-sub-20130628,0,5072854.story

davey jones dead boston weather dr seuss birthday derrick williams romney michigan railgun jk rowling new book

Men's basketball: CU Buffs' Dinwiddie named to Team USA for World University Games

Spencer Dinwiddie. ( CLIFF GRASSMICK )

Colorado point guard Spencer Dinwiddie was named to the Team USA World University Games roster on Saturday.

The junior was one of just 12 players selected to participate for Team USA at the Games, which take place July 7-16 in Kazan, Russia. The team leaves for Russia on Monday.

"I was really happy this morning when I found out," Dinwiddie said in a press release. "It's a great honor for me and I thought I had played pretty well, and I felt like I deserved a spot. But at the same time, it's not about the best 12 players, it's about the team. I'm really excited."

Originally, Dinwiddie was one of 26 players invited to the training camp at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. The camp began Monday, and the roster was trimmed to 16 finalists on Wednesday.

The 6-foot-6 Dinwiddie led CU in scoring (15.3 points per game) and assists (3.0) last season, helping the Buffs go 21-12 and reach the NCAA Tournament for the second year in a row. He was named to the All-Pac-12 first team.

Dinwiddie is the only Pac-12 player on the U.S. team.

Source: http://www.buffzone.com/ci_23568477/mens-basketball-cu-buffs-dinwiddie-named-team-usa?source=rss_viewed

walt what time is it current time a thousand words my sisters keeper kirby sarah palin

Review: 2013 Ford Fusion SE 1.6 EcoBoost

While we normally review high performance cars in the Ford family, and their aftermarket variants, this review focusses on a more practical Ford. Not all of us can have a Mustang for daily transportation, weather and the need to haul more things and people often are the deciding factors in this. Recently editor Creason?s wife was in need of a larger ride to better accommodate their growing family. While they enjoyed their Focus hatchback, it was time to upgrade to a bigger, family sedan.

The recently redesigned 2013 Ford Fusion was chosen as our new family ride.We selected the SE model with the 1.6 liter 178 hp EcoBoost four-cylinder engine, and automatic transmission from Byerly Ford in Louisville, KY. The car also has the popular My Ford Touch and Sync systems.

The mid-size segment is highly competitive and one where Ford once dominated with the Taurus. That car has since made the transition to ?Full size? class, and the Fusion has been the Blue Oval?s mid-size car for right at a decade now.

On The Road

There?s no better way (in our minds) to test out a new car than to hit the road. The family loaded up and made an over 900 mile journey with infant in the back seat and mom and dad up front. We found the interior cabin of the Fusion ideal for this kind of driving. The car provided ample room for us and all of the things we took along.

A summer road trip to the beach seemed the perfect way to test the new 2013 Fusion for comfort, fuel economy, and practicality.

The front seats are comfortable, offering the right amount of firmness. We traveled through two southern states including Georgia and Florida and found the AC system was also quite capable of managing the 90-plus-degree summer heat. returning the car to comfortable temperatures following each stop.

Engine

We averaged just over 30 MPG round-trip, mostly highway miles for just over 2,000 miles of driving.

The EcoBoost 1.6 averaged just over 30 MPG for the entire trip, not too bad for a car that started out with just 400 miles on the odometer when we began the journey. The small four-cylinder doesn?t have tons of grunt, but we were never worried merging on the interstate, and had plenty of power to pass, you can feel the engine?s torque bolstered by the turbo at those times when it?s needed.

Since this car is destined to commute over 70 miles round trip daily, the 1.6 was the ideal engine as it offers the best fuel economy aside from the Hybrid models. We imagine that with a little more ?break in? this engine will probably average slightly better fuel economy.

We?d like to see about 20 more horsepower in this engine, and feel that would make it even better suited for a car this size. Still though it?s economy is well suited to our needs.

Handling

The SE is not designed to lap the tracks, again this car is put together with commuting and daily driving tasks in mind. The Michelin tires offered excellent road comfort, and the suspension was one of the most accommodating we?ve driven. The ride is not so light that you feel as though you?d be rocked to sleep while driving. However it?s not harsh either, soaking up seams, and bumps in the road, all prevalent as the summer road construction season is well under way.

We also noticed the car had excellent stopping ability. Wth the summer driving season comes plenty of driver?s who feel that it?s a race to get to their destination, thus quick braking, and sudden lane changes were both part of our trip. We?re pleased to say the Fusion handled both well, never leaving us to feel out of control, or having any sense that the car was anything other than confidently in our control.

Even with a rear-facing child seat installed front passenger leg room was still plentiful.

Technology

The My Ford Touch and Sync systems worked well in our car. While the voice commands sometimes struggled with our southern accents, for the most part with some patience we could get the system to do what we wanted. We also found the system easy to use, we?ve seen reviews bashing this system through the years, but really it?s no more difficult to use than the latest smart phone or tablet to hit the market.

We connected phones via Bluetooth, and enjoyed playing audio that way as well. Climate controls were easily set. The Navigation system did an excellent job, and we also enjoyed the SIRIUS traffic link function which warned of accidents and delays ahead.

If we had one gripe on the navigation system, we thought it should feature an easy reroute or alternate route function. We found construction delays weren?t always noted, which is to be expected. It would be nice to have a button in the Navigation menu that says reroute, and allows users to choose to bypass an area easily.

The backup camera on the car is excellent as well, it offers a wide view, and we found it most helpful in tight tourist destination parking lots.

The Final Opinion

The only other piece of advice we?d have for those looking at the 2013 Fusion is to have the windows tinted. We noticed from day one the amount of glass in this car. It?s great for visibility, but with a small child, shielding them from constant direct sunlight is a must. We had the windows tinted less than a week after we bought our car.

For those who need a family hauler, but don?t want to step up to the bigger Taurus, the 2013 Fusion offers the right combination of style, technology, economy, and comfort for everyone from Gen X or Y?ers who are starting families, to baby boomers looking for a solid, stylish, and affordable mid-size car.

Source: http://www.stangtv.com/features/car-features/review-2013-ford-fusion-se-1-6-ecoboost/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=review-2013-ford-fusion-se-1-6-ecoboost

Psy Gentleman Angel Cabrera Jay Z Open Letter glee glee masters live frozen four